infographic

Statistics can be a wonderful thing. They can show us information that can guide our decisions and bring us to see things in better focus. They can distract us, taking us down an incorrect path based upon lack of understanding. They can entertain us.

This infographic from Yoda London can likely do any of the three. As with any set of numbers, if you torture them long enough, you can make them say anything. For example, seeing that 93% of online experiences begin with search engines can be useful in that it highlights the importance of SEO. It could also be detrimental if misunderstood as “online experiences” could mean just about anything. It entertains (if you’re a search geek like me, at least).

There’s a rule when it comes to handling complaints and bad reviews on social media. The same rule applies for compliments and good reviews, but those are easy. Handling the complaints can be challenging and you may not want to do it, but as a rule you must reply to everyone who is talking to you publicly whether it’s good or bad.

This is an absolute rule. There are a couple of extreme situations when you don’t reply, but they are so rare that I hesitate to mention them for fear that it could downplay the message that you should reply to everyone.

There’s another rule that is unfortunately getting broken just about every day by many social media and reputation management companies. Canned responses should never be used. Every response should be personal, written by an actual human and not repeated. It’s better to make a short, sincere response than anything that came out of an automated system. People can tell. You will never appear more insincere as a company than when you reply to someone talking to you on social media with a form letter.

In this infographic by Pardot, we have a chance to take a look at five of the most prominent “complainer types” on social media. If you can identify the category that a complainer falls into, you’ll have a better opportunity to handle it appropriated. One does not have to be a psychologist to understand personality types. You just have to open your eyes and ears before opening your mouth.

In the ever-changing world of online marketing, one of the tools that has stayed relatively consistent in its results over the past few years is the infographic. I remember first getting started with building and marketing infographics back in 2008. Things haven’t changed a whole lot since then.

Two things that have definitely changed are the saturation and the search value. The industry is so saturated today that it’s nearly impossible to get the same type of exposure now that we once saw a few years ago. It was once possible to get a great infographic in front of millions of people by having it published on major blogs and websites. Today, the saturation has made it to where getting one posted to Mashable or the NY Times is extremely challenging.

The search value has changed as well. Google is very well aware of the use of infographics for inbound links and they’ve taken measures to make sure that this ultimate form of “link baiting” is not overpowered. That’s not to say that there’s no search value. It’s still there and is very strong. The days of “build an infographic and rank higher instantly” are behind us.

Here is a breakdown (in infographic form, of course) of five of the most common forms of infographics. Click to enlarge.

I’m really not crazy about mini-infographics that are intended to drive some quick links to the source and this is definitely one of those. They even focus on their own branding rather in the center of the graphic rather than at the bottom as is normally the custom. However, the stats are good and so is my mood.

We learn two things from these five facts. First, we learn that social is important to marketers, something that we’ve known for a while but that could always use some reiteration. The second thing we learn is that half of the marketers out there using social media don’t really know how to track it. This is a problem as we recently discussed.

I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the Huffington Post. It’s not that I don’t like some of the content. I don’t like what they’ve done to content as a whole and how they’ve really dismantled the concept of fair search and social marketing for blogs. Then again, you have to admire the results.

With that said, the infographic that they had built below is rather exceptional. It’s not the most visually stunning piece of work ever, but the information is top notch. The anxiety-causing issues surround social media for small businesses are spot on. The tips that they offer are pretty darn good. Their strategies aren’t bad for those new to the game. In a world where poor social media infographics get posted around the internet on a daily basis, it’s a breath of fresh air to find one that actually works.

And yes, it’s from HuffPo. Still posting it. Quality over source. Information over bias. Begrudgingly, here it is:

Before a hashtag was what it means today to just about every major social network, it was a pound button. It was a number sign. It was a tic-tac-toe box. It was anything other than what it is today, one of the most useful and important tools used by social media marketing firms and general social media fans across the internet.

I was there, believe it or not. I saw the first hashtag ever used. It was funny because at the time I thought it was a pretty silly idea, but obviously it grew on me and hundreds of millions of others. Now, I often find myself wondering why hashtags aren’t used more often. Go figure.

Here’s an infographic from Offerpop that breaks down the long (in internet years at least) history of the four little lines.

Just as Christmas lights are already going up with a month and three weeks to go, so too will the onslaught of “best of 2013″ and “2013 year in review” posts start finding their way into your feeds. It’s natural. First isn’t always best, but at least it’s first, right? Unless it’s second…

Anyway, this particular infographic about 2013 has some useful facts, particularly for those who are still stuck trying to convince others that social media is more than a fad. For example, 36% of marketers have found a customer via Twitter this year. It’s not a high number but it goes to show that the notion that “people don’t buy things through Twitter” might be false. Now, if you’re selling $1.99 trinkets, getting a customer through Twitter might not be a big deal, but if you’re selling cars or houses, well…

On stat that I would love to see the data on (mostly because I don’t know if I believe it) is the concept that 35-44 and 45-54 are the two most dominant social networking age groups. Perhaps I’m being cynical. Perhaps I’m giving kids these days too much credit. Still, I see a lot more conversations about Miley Cyrus on social media than anyone in the older brackets. That’s not very good circumstantial evidence, but hey…

Here’s the infographic from Social Divas. Take from it what you can, dismiss the rest, and enjoy your day. Now, to end one more paragraph with dot dot dot…

Twitter often gets the shaft from a certain type of large company. Those who believe it is too frivolous, spammy, or noisy may avoid it as a marketing tool and simply use it for defense when bad things arise from a public relations perspective. This is a huge mistake.

Some big brands are doing Twitter right… very right. In this infographic from Etsy, we get to see exactly what five particular brands are doing. Specifically, we get to see what challenges they had and how they used Twitter to find solutions.

In an ideal world, you’re the social media and content manager for your company. You spend eight hours a day harnessing the power of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ while developing content for your blog and YouTube channels. It’s tough, but you’re making it happen.

In the real world, you’re probably responsible for a ton of different things and social media was tossed onto your pile of work. How can you cope? Is it possible to have a strong social media presence without devoting a ton of time to it? Yes and no. Yes, you can have a pretty decent one, but 30-minutes as detailed below is the bare minimum to be considered truly active. I’ve seen people do it in about 2 hours a day and have a super strong presence.

For those of you who are having to hold it together until help (or more time) arrives, here’s a great infographic that can work as a daily checklist of activities that you need to accomplish to maintain the minimum level of social media power, courtesy of Pardot.

It’s that time of year, again. We’re going to eat a lot of different foods that we rarely eat the rest of the year and we’re going to hear a lot of predictions about the future of marketing. The future, of course, is made up of a ton of digital marketing practices. Every year, it gets bigger. Every year, there are more options.

It can actually get pretty confusing.

One of the common themes of the hodgepodge of statistics in the infographic below is that spending will continue its shift away from traditional advertising and more into digital. This trend has been happening for over a decade now and it shows no signs of slowing. The funny part is that what’s not mentioned in the graphic is any indication that traditional media such as television is shifting dramatically to include the second screen as a way to interact with content being shown on ads. This is a no-brainer, yet it seems like very few are doing it right.

Another shift is the continued growth of social media throughout the marketing spectrum. Whether through email social sharing buttons, increased spending on various social media advertising platforms, or the good ol’ content marketing practices that have been driving us all for the last couple of years, social is clearly the biggest gainer throughout 2013 and will continue to make gains (for both the social sites themselves as well as the advertisers) into 2014.

One final omission from the graphic – an emphasis on video. There’s no doubt that video is getting bigger every day. People are spending more time on it. Businesses are spending more money on it. Mastering the art of getting your message to flow and resonate on video advertisements is going to get more and more important. Faster devices. Faster internet connections. It’s a recipe for success to those who recognize it.